A Chance At Starting Over
by Reigns'Sweetheart
Summary: Chantel Belmonte and Roman Reigns grew up together, with their families being very close friends. After being away for a year, Chantel returns from Italy and the two of them are back in each other's paths. After not getting along for years and an event that nearly severed any chance of a possible friendship between the two, will things begin to change or will it remain the same?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Here's a new story, that I hope everyone enjoys! **

**DISCLAIMER: I NOT own WWE, NXT or any of the Superstars and Divas from either roster that may appear in this story. Names and locations are used for story purposes only. **

"Do I really have to go, mom?" Asked Chantel as she looked in the mirror in her room. She wore a blue dress with sleeves and beige pumps as her long, light brown hair that was usually in natural waves, cascading down her back, showing how long it had gotten. Her blue eyes were made clearer because of the color of her dress and they were strong, yet softened behind layers of protection.

"Yes. This means a lot to your father and I." She replied. Her mother was Italian and French with green eyes and brown hair. At five foot six, she was shorter than Chantel who stood at five foot ten, but the two looked a like, though their personalities were completely different.

"Besides, you'll get to see a lot of your friends." She continued as she watched her daughter put in her diamond studs and made sure that they were in and secure before turning around to look at her mother.

Chantel sighed and looked around. "Mom, are you sure that they're going to be there? We haven't seen each other in a year."

"They will be there and they will remember you, Chantel. You've sent us countless pictures of you while you were in Italy." Said her mother. "Now, let's go before we're all late."

Chantel followed her mother out of the house and into the car with her brothers and sister. The youngest of 4 kids, she was always under pressure from her parents to follow in the good steps of her older siblings. Though she always excelled in school and in sports, Chantel wanted to be her own person, often making her the black sheep of the family at times. She wanted to be known as Chantel Belmonte. The straight A student who excelled in gymnastics and track, rather than volleyball and softball like her sister. A graduate from Georgia Tech with a Bachelor's of Science in Psychology, and a PhD in Psychology in three years becoming the first in the family to gain a PhD of any kind, instead of Business and Law like her brothers and sister from Florida State. The older siblings only going as far as a Masters Degree and a license to practice Law.

When they got to the place, it was a fancy location that had different rooms in where people could rent. There was always the possibility of more than one event going on at the same time and luckily, there were different rooms to make that possible. The prices depending on the room. It was black and grey marble on the outside with glass doors at the entrance. Once inside, you were greeted with a fountain made of granite as the sound of water rolled softly from the top of angel to the small pool and white marble floor.

Turning the corner, they saw a few people outside of the room, slowly going in after getting their invitation checked. Recognizing a few faces, Chantel began to relax a bit, but was dreading being there because of the one person she knew was going to be there. The one person that she had never gotten along with since middle school, but who she has known since they were babies. Though he was three years older than her, their families were still good friends and so they grew up together.

Meanwhile, inside was the Anoa'i family talking and looking around greeting familiar faces of friends as they sat at their table. The head of the family, Sika, was sitting in the middle next to his wife, Patricia. Along with them were their children: Matt, Samantha, and Roman. Some members of the rest of their family sat in the table nearby which included some of their cousins such as Jimmy, Jey, their wives, Dwayne, his mom, and Tamina with her dad.

Roman excused himself to go talk to Jimmy and Jey with whom he grew up with. He stood at 6'3 and weighed in at 265 pounds with blue/grey eyes and long raven, black hair that was pulled back into a neat bun and a goatee. He wore a black suit with a grey shirt underneath and a black tie. Jimmy and Jey were twin cousins with their long hair in neat ponytails and similar suits but with different shades of the same color who kept things entertaining and who enjoyed family and whose father was, known to the wrestling world as Rikishi.

"Did you hear about who came back?" Asked Jey as they met up with Roman and slowly walked around.

"No, I haven't." He replied. The three were wrestlers, who obviously followed in the family's footsteps. There was a long family line of Samoan wrestlers from the family and the three made it a obvious that they were going to continue the legacy.

"Do you remember Chantel?" Asked Jimmy.

Roman thought for a moment. "Yeah, I remember. Last time I heard, she wasn't in Florida anymore. I think she went to Italy."

"She did." Jey replied. "And word going around is that she's back and she's been in Florida for the last few days."

"Chantel's been gone for a year though. Why would she want to come back?" Asked Roman.

"Are you asking because you still don't like her or just really want to know?" Jimmy asked.

Roman looked at them. "What difference will it make? I'm sure she doesn't want to talk to me anyways. That'll be fine with me."

They got back to the table and saw that the room had filled up except for the table that was reserved for the Belmonte family. Everybody turned their attention to the door when the family began to come in and Roman's world stopped when he saw Chantel walking in behind her brothers and sister when they walked in behind their parents. He heard a few of the guys whistle as some of the girls whispered seeing her after a year. Of course, those same girls were never friends with her and she didn't mind that they weren't.

The blue dress that she wore, hugged her body in all of the right places from top to bottom. Her long, toned legs were still in shape, even after a few years of being off the track and gymnastics scene. Her flat stomach was still intact, as were her curves that would make men stare even after she were to pass.

"Italy did her really good." Said the twins.

Roman didn't realize just how attractive she was until now. Her hair had become lighter, but her blue eyes remained the same. Strong and eyes that could pierce through you, accompanied by an attitude that was still slightly evident by the way in which she walked so effortlessly in heels.

The two caught each other's eyes and held it for a moment before one of her brothers caught her attention, and so did some of her friends that were there that wanted to greet her.

_**Two weeks later...**_

"Daddy, look what I made in school." Said Isabella as they sat in the library. She was Roman's 6 year old daughter whom he was raising on his own with the help of his parents who watched her when he was out on the road with the WWE.

He looked over at her and saw a drawing that she had made. "That looks very beautiful. What is it supposed to be?"

"It's you and me holding hands and we're in front of our house." She replies. "There's a rainbow because I really like rainbows and then we have flowers. Very pretty flowers."

"What kind of flowers are they?" Roman asks with a smile on his face.

"They're tulips." Isabella says. "I really like tulips."

"Well, this is beautiful and I love it." He tells his daughter. "Do you want me to hang it up on the fridge?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes, please."

Isabella put her drawing back in her folder and then in her bookbag. After putting everything away, she went to go look for a book as Roman checked his emails on his phone. When he looked up to make sure his daughter was still in his sights, he caught a glimpse of something with the corner of his eye and turned his head to look. It was Chantel talking to the girl at the front.

She wore blue jeans with a white sweater that came with a hoodie and a blue shirt underneath with her hair in a neat pony tail. Roman groaned, not wanting her to see him. They hadn't gotten along since she was in middle school and they never seemed to get back on the right foot with each other. There was one time in college, where things seemed to be getting between between the two, but even then it fell out and never went back to even an attempt at getting on the right track again.

"Daddy, look. It's Chantel." Said Isabella as she came back to where Roman was and with a book in her hand.

"You remember her?" He asked as he looked into his daughter's brown eyes.

"Of course." She replies. "She was always nice to me and always asked how I was doing. Can I go talk to her?"

"I don't know if that would be a good idea, Isabella." Roman said as he cleared his throat. "Besides, it's getting late and we have to go home."

"Please, daddy." Isabella says with her smile that Roman just thought was beautiful. Her tan skin and her long brown hair, was from her mother. But there were definitely some features and traits that she inherited from Roman, like how her face looks when she's thinking about something or focused on what she's doing. The way she defended herself and how she had a calm and laid back kind of attitude until she got upset enough to act differently.

After much pleading, Roman gave in and grabbed her hand after taking her bookbag and hooking it over his shoulder. Isabella held her book in her hand as they made their to the front to where the lady was to get the book checked out.

"Hi Chantel!" Exclaimed Isabella as they got closer.

She smiled seeing Roman's daughter and hugged her. "How are you? You've grown so much since I last saw you."

"Yes, I did. I'm 6 now and really, really good at reading." Isabella replied.

"That's very good, I'm proud of you." Chantel says with a smile.

"Thank you." Isabella said as she grinned. "We need to catch up on everything, like why you left for a long time."

Chantel looks at her softly and smiles. "If your dad allows it."

"Really?" Asked Roman as he quickly changed his view to his daughter. "I'm sure she's very busy and has a few things that she has to do."

"I'm free on the weekends actually." Chantel says as her strong blue eyes cut through Roman like a knife as her soft, full lips didn't even attempt a smile. Not even a fake one. "So tomorrow would be a good day."

"That's not necessary." Roman says quickly.

They look at each other and the awkwardness could be felt before anyone said anything. "Look, I know you and I don't have the award for getting along. But I'm not sure if us being around each other again after everything would be a good thing."

Chantel knew what he was referring too and memories rushed back into her head of that one semester in college that just about severed any possibility of a friendship, and what felt like a permanent result. They went to the same college, Georgia Tech, he was was on the football team and started three years in a row, beginning his Sophomore year and was about two to three years ahead of her. He had gone to play for a few teams in the NFL before retiring from football and going into wrestling to continue the family legacy.

"You're her father." She tells him and smiles at his daughter. "Whatever your final decision is, your sister has my number. You can let her know so that she can tell me. I'll see you around, Isabella. I've missed you a lot while I was gone."

"I've missed you, too." Isabella says as she lets go of her father's hand once again to give Chantel another hug. "I want to see you again."

"I know, but it's up to your dad." Chantel says. "I can't make the decision for him. I'll see you again, don't worry. But until then, be good to your dad, okay?"

After a few more minutes, Chantel left. Roman saw her making her way to a brand new Tahoe, SUV and to the driver's seat. Isabella tugged on his hand, bringing his attention back to her. He took the hint and realized that she couldn't reach the book after the lady had checked it out.

"Sorry." Roman mumbled and grabbed the book and her library card before grabbing her hand again.

When they got to the car, a black SUV Tahoe as well, Roman pulled out his phone after starting the car and letting it run for a few minutes while he waited for his sister to answer. He looked in the rear view mirror to see Isabella putting her library card away.

"Hello?" Asked Samantha when she answered the phone.

"Hey, it's me, Roman." He says. "Do you have Chantel's number?"

"Yes, why?" She asks.

"Isabella and I saw her at the library today and she wants to hang out with Chantel." Roman replies. "I forgot how much she loves Chantel."

"And you didn't give her an answer, so you have to call me to tell her." Samantha says, figuring it out. "Last time I checked, the two of you still hate each other."

Roman sighed. "I don't hate her, Sam. I never did. Yeah, there was a time when I didn't. But after what happened, I stopped not liking her because it didn't make sense to me to continue that."

"The two of you should talk about it." Samantha tells her brother. "It's been years since the two of you talked. The only reason that you _do _talk is because of Isabella and the fact that our families are still good friends. But even then, your conversations consist of one word answers. Look, Roman I don't know what happened between the two of you or why the two of you have barely gotten along when there was a point where you did. But if you and her don't talk it out and clear things up, nothing will ever get better, so don't expect it to if you don't. Isabella wants to hang out with Chantel, then take this opportunity to talk to her. And maybe you can find out why she was gone for a year."

He thought for a moment. Roman came to the realization that his sister was right. Chantel wasn't going to make the first attempt to talk to him for obvious reasons and so Roman would have to be the one to do so.

"I have to get home, but I'll text you what to let Chantel know about meeting up with us." Roman said as he began driving.

"Okay. I'll talk to you later, then." Samantha says.

"Talk to you later." Roman says before they both hung up.

When they got home, Isabella went up to her room to put her things away while Roman started dinner. It was a little after 5:30 in the evening, but every time Roman was home, he and Isabella would go to the library. She loved going there, as well as having a love for reading so Roman took that opportunity to get her to do her homework there as well.

"Daddy, what's for dinner?" Asked Isabella when she walked into the kitchen. It had granite and marble counters and mahogany cabinets that held the pots and pans that Roman would use whenever he cooked. The stove was a top of the line stove with an amazing working oven and five spots on top that you could use to cook. There were two other ovens that were next to it that were bigger which Roman used if he was the one cooking something for the holidays.

Roman thought for a moment as he looked through the fridge. "You know, how does mac and cheese sound with some chicken?"

"I love mac and cheese." She said to him with a smile took a seat on one of the chairs that was at the island that was in the middle of the kitchen. It was mahogany as well having a marble top and enough chairs to sit four people. They had a dining room with a table that fit more people, but because there was only the two of them, they didn't really bother sitting there unless there were people over.

"I'm going to start cooking, okay?" Asked Roman as he turned on the stove and put a pot over the fire to begin warming it up. He grabbed the box of mac and cheese and followed the directions that were on the back. After leaving it alone, he began to clean the chicken thoroughly and put some seasonings on it before putting it in the frying pan.

"Can I help?" Isabella asked.

"Want to help with the plates?" Roman asked.

"Okay." She replied as she got out of her seat and walked over to Roman who handed her two plates.

He grabbed the stepping stool that he had nearby in case she ever needed it and put it in front of the sink. Isabella stepped on the top step and turned on the water, wetting one of the plates that she grabbed. Taking some soap and a sponge, she cleaned it and made sure that she got every part of the plate before wetting it again to take the soap off. Roman smiled at his daughter, and checked on the food. Once Isabelle was done with plates, she turned off the water and took some paper to dry the plates. She then, put them aside and looked up at her father with a big smile.

"You did it, good job." Roman tells her with a grin on his face as he gave her a hug. "You want to put the cheese in for the macaroni?"

"Yes!" Isabella exclaimed as she got off of the stepping stool and put it in front of the stove.

"Not too close to the stove, though." Roman said, wanting to keep her safe. When she stepped on the top stool, he gave her the packet of cheese and let her put it in and gave her the big spoon he was using so that she could mix it together. He held on to the pot, to make sure that it didn't fall while checking on the chicken and turning it to the other side. "See, you did it."

"I did it!" She exclaimed happily, seeing the mac and cheese mixed together. Her arms wrapped around her father's neck when he picked her up and her giggles filled the kitchen when he showered her with tiny kisses.

"I'm going to finish the chicken and then we can eat, okay?" Roman asked.

"Okay." Isabella replied.

"Go wash up for dinner, first." He said when he saw that was going to sit down.

He heard her tiny footsteps leave and go up the stairs. A few minutes later, the chicken was finished and so Roman turned off the stove. He put the chicken on plates and then took the opportunity to clean the frying pan to put it away. Once he was finished with that, he went to the macaroni and cheese and put some on each other plates before putting it back on the stove and covering it up, seeing as there was some left. He put the plates on the island, in front of Isabella and grabbed some forks to put them in the plates. He grabbed two cups and put some ice in it to get something to drink.

When he finally sat down, Roman took out his phone and found Samantha's phone number. He sent her a text telling her when and where he wanted Chantel to meet them. He wasn't sure what to make of her return, but surprisingly, he wasn't upset about it. Roman just knew that with the things they had been through in the past, it wasn't going to be easy, having her back.

**A/N: What you think? What could have happened between Roman and Chantel that has them on the outs? What is the history behind those two? Why do you think Chantel was in Italy for a year? What of Roman's relationship with his daughter, Isabella? Do they have a close relationship? **

***A/N*: Happy New Year everyone! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to those who have reviewed and who have put the story on their alerts and on their favorites list! **

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own WWE, NXT or any of the Superstars and Divas from either roster that may appear in this story. Names and locations are used for story purposes only. **

Spending her morning at the gym, Chantel had just finished her workout that she had just begun since she had returned from Italy. She drank some water and looked at her phone to check the time. Realizing that she had to get ready to meet up with Roman's daughter, Isabella, she grabbed her things and went to the locker room to get everything she needed to leave.

Samantha had called her last night to tell her the information that Roman had given his sister as to where and when to meet him and Isabella. A part of Chantel wondered why he seemed to be okay with her meeting up with them because of the things that they have gone through, but decided to put their differences aside for Isabella.

Getting home, she walked into her apartment that her father had helped her get and remembered that there were a few things that she wanted to finish unpacking. Chantel had been able to quickly find a two bedroom apartment in Pensacola that wasn't too far from the job that she had just gotten a few days after she had returned. She was halfway done with all of the things that she needed. All Chantel had to do was get the HD box for the television and have it set up.

Walking into her room, it was the larger one of the two with beige carpet. The furniture that she was able to put in was a rich reddish mahogany color dresser with a mirror as well as a bed frame that was of the same color. The walls were white, but she managed to put some color in the room to go along with the mahogany in the furniture. The mattress was heaven on her body and she didn't want to get out of it in the mornings.

Half an hour later, Chantel came out of the shower with her hair wet and in a plain grey shirt that she was going to wear and took out a pair of blue jeans. Brushing her hair, Chantel let it out so that it could air dry and put on some lip gloss before putting on her shoes. After getting her purse and making sure she had everything like her wallet and her keys as well as her phone, Chantel left her apartment and got to her SUV Tahoe and went to the address that Samantha had given her the night before.

_**15 minutes later...**_

Chantel parked her SUV in an empty parking space big enough for the car and stepped out. It was a diner that she had recently heard of since coming back. It was new and one that she hadn't been to since it was built and open while she was still in Italy. Walking into the diner, she looked back to see Roman and Isabella behind her and so she waited for them.

"Chantel!" Isabella exclaimed as she ran up to the woman.

"Bella!" She said happily as she picked her up and hugged her. Putting her down, she straightened up her shirt and looked up to see Roman standing there. Giving him a small smile, they turned their attention to finding a table and sat down with a waitress giving them menu's and asking what they wanted to drink.

"Chantel, what are you?" Isabella asked.

"What do you mean, what am I?" She asked as she looked at the little girl who was sitting next to her dad.

"What is your ethnicity?" Asked Isabella, trying to pronounce the last word.

Chantel smiled at her attempt. "Italian, French and Spaniard and Puerto Rican."

"What's Spaniard?" Isabella asked.

"Spain." Chantel replied, looking at her menu.

"What language do they speak and where is that?" The little girl asked.

She looked at her and smiled. "They speak Spanish and they're next to Portugal. It's near Italy."

Chantel looked through her phone and found a map to show Isabella, pointing out where the countries were. The waitress came back to take their orders and when she left, a wave of awkwardness filled the air. Especially between Roman and Chantel.

"Um, you look good." Roman said softly as he looked at his hands.

"Thanks. So do you." She replied. "So how have you been?"

"I've been good. Busy, but I love what I do and I get to provide for my daughter, so I can't complain." Roman replied.

"I heard about the injury that you had a few months ago." Chantel told him. "The hernia and the emergency surgery. I see you're doing better from that."

"Yeah, it's...I've been working through the pain and then that day that I went to the hospital, the pain was just too much for me to handle." He told her. "Luckily that also gave me time to recover and physically get myself together and spend time with my little girl. How have you been though? Last I heard of you was that you were in Italy."

Chantel sighed and pressed her lips together. "I've been good. I was at a crossroads that I didn't realize I was in until I got there and...just a whole bunch of things. It gave me time to think about things and realize what I really wanted and needed. I enjoyed my time there and I got to experience some things that I am glad I did."

The silence returned when the food was bought to their table. They began eating, only talking to Isabella as she enjoyed her chicken tenders and her fries. Chantel and Roman looked at each other, both wanting to say what was on their minds, but neither one of them speaking those words.

"Why did you go to Italy?" Roman asked, breaking the silence.

"I was forced to go." Chantel replied softly after a few moments. "My parents didn't like that I didn't do what they wanted me to. They wanted Business or Law at Florida State, and I went to Georgia Tech for Psychology. They wanted softball and volleyball and I did gymnastics and track. They thought I'd be married by now like my brothers and sister and with a baby on the way, but I'm not and they don't like that. I'm 26 years old and they think I should be before they think it's too late for it all to happen."

Roman knew there was more to the story that she wasn't telling him. He wasn't going to force her to talk, know her long enough to know that Chantel will push back if she doesn't like it.

"Daddy, can we go to the library?" Asked Isabella.

"We went to the library yesterday." Roman replied.

"I know but I already finished my book and I'd like another one." She told him.

"Do you have your library card and the book you have to give in?" Roman asked.

Isabella nodded. "Yes. It's in the car, but I have my card in here."

She showed him her little bag with her card. He agreed to take her later in the day and told her to finish her food. Roman then turned his attention back to Chantel. The way things had turned out when they were still in college, wasn't the way he felt it should have ended. At least, not then. The only good thing about it was that he now has a precious little girl that calls him 'Daddy'. Roman wondered if those feelings he held towards her all those years ago still lingered, and were out of his head when he heard his daughter's voice as she talked to Chantel.

He smiled as they laughed and caught up on the things that they have missed from each other's lives for the past year. Roman wondered how the two managed to become this friendly with each other, regardless of how he and Chantel were towards each other.

When they finished, they paid the bill and went out to their cars. Roman put Isabella in the backseat and went around to see that Chantel was getting into her car. He called out for her, remembering what his sister had told him the night before about talking it out.

"I'm sorry about what happened when we were in college, Chantel." He told her softly, almost low enough for Isabella to not hear what he had said, even though she was in the car. "It was wrong."

"You're damn right, it was wrong." Chantel snapped quietly. "I fell victim to the little bet you had going on with your friends and I'm the one that got hurt in the end."

"You think I didn't care?" Roman asked.

Chantel scoffed. "You obviously didn't. Why would you think that doing what you did was a good idea, huh? Wanting to make someone fall for you only to break their hearts in the end because you didn't feel the same way? Only to get what you wanted out of it and to get what you were promised from the bet and you want to tell me that you cared?"

"It was my feelings for you that made me want to get out of that bet." He told her.

"Why did you even partake in the bet in the first place?" She asked him. "What were you trying to gain out of it? You want me to believe you, Roman? You don't realize how hard that will be. I thought that you were truly someone that I could get along with again after so many years of fighting. But then you do some dumb shit like you did and I'm the one that gets the short end of the stick. You made a deal with your friends that you could get any girl that you wanted and that if you could, then what? What was going to happen? You'd be considered a ladies man on the team?"

Roman didn't reply at first. "It was stupid. _I _was stupid."

"You're absolutely right." Chantel says to him. "And I'm the unlucky girl because I thought you truly cared about me, even if it was just for a split second but it turns out that you didn't. Out of all of the girls in school that could have been chosen, you decided to pick me. As if you never had to see me again after you graduated. As if forgetting that our families are friends and have been for years. As if forgetting that I'm friends with your sister."

"Damn it, Chantel!" Roman exclaimed. "What do I have to do to show you that I cared?"

Chantel thought for a moment. "Is there anything that can be done, Roman?"

They looked at each other before she continued. "It's been so long since it's happened, Roman. Just about seven years. If it wasn't for what happened...for how we turned out, you may not have had Isabella with Janelle. You were happy with her. At least something good came out of it for you."

"Chantel...I may have gotten Isabella and I can never regret her because she's my world and my everything. My heart. But I regret how things turned out with you and I." Roman said when she turned around. "I was wrong and I was stupid. I should have never done that and I regret it every single time. What I ask of you is to give me a chance...to give _us _a chance to start over."

"We've known each other our whole lives, Roman." She replied when she turned around. "After everything that you and I have gone through, all the fighting and the back and forth and then what happened in college, can we start over? You really hurt me, Roman. And badly. I fell for you. But that wasn't enough for you, it seemed at the end of it all. Like I said when you first told me about the bet, I thank you for telling me the truth. But it made me wonder what was truth from lie. How do I know that you really cared about me, let alone wanted me if it wasn't for that bet?"

"What makes you think that I didn't?" Roman asked.

"If that bet wasn't in place, would you have even bothered with me like you did?" Chantel asked.

Chantel went back to her car before Roman had the chance to say anything else. He followed suit and turned on his car after making sure that Isabella was okay.

"Daddy, is she okay?" Isabella asked.

"Yes, she's okay. I was just letting her know where we were going next." Roman replies, not wanting his daughter to worry. She didn't know anything about their past and he wondered if it was a good idea to let her know, especially at her age. "She'll follow us there, but first we're going to go to the library so that you can return your book."

"Okay." Said Isabella as she looked out the window when Roman began to drive when he pulled out and saw Chantel waiting for him to go.

_**That night...**_

Chantel was in her apartment, finishing up with setting up a few final things for her television and heard someone knocking on her door when she had just sat down. She groaned, not wanting to get up, but thought that it was the food that she had ordered. When she looked through the peephole, Chantel gasped softly at who was on the other end of the door. He had insisted on making sure that she got home safely and so she wasn't surprised if he remembered the way to her apartment complex.

"Roman?" She asked when she opened the door. "Where's Isabella? Is she okay?"

"She's with Sam." Roman replied. "I wanted to come talk to you. Is it okay if I come in?"

Chantel sighed. "What is there to talk about, Roman?"

"I just think we need to talk out what happened." He says.

She stepped aside and let him in, closing the door behind him to not make a scene out in the hall. Chantel signaled to the couch to let him know that he could sit. Keeping her distance, she sat on the other side of the couch and crossed her arms.

"I already said what I wanted to say about it." She tells him. "I don't feel as if there's anything left for me to say about that situation. Besides, it happened about seven years ago. We can't change what happened, Roman."

"But we can change the future and how we turn out." He said. "Don't you ever wonder about how things would have turned out had we not ended things the way that we did?"

Chantel didn't respond because she knew that her eyes would tell the truth. There were times when she definitely thought about how things would have turned out. But the truth of the matter was, every time she did, the way that it all played out replays in her mind. The pain in your chest, in your heart, that you swear you can feel when something happens or is said or seen that hurts you so much. Chantel, at one point, fell in love with Roman and he broke her heart.

Though she had secretly forgiven him and it helped her to move on, there was still a part of her that wished it hadn't turned out as bad as it did. Roman really was a good guy and he did treat her right, but she wondered if it was just an act when she found out about the bet that he had in place with his friends. It had killed her inside and Chantel went through a bit of a depression after that, almost penalizing every guy after Roman that showed even the slightest interest in her. There was a period in where she continued to want him even after everything that happened because she still loved him. Chantel didn't know if she was willing to let her guard down that easily.

"I don't know, Roman." She said softly.

"You don't know what?" He asked with his blue/grey eyes staring into her blue's.

Chantel looked up at him. "If it could work out."

Roman's blue/grey eyes looked at her with wonder. "It worked out once. Maybe we can work again. Who knows, maybe we can be at least friends."

"I'll think about it." Chantel says to him softly.

"That's fine." He replies and looks down at his hands.

After a few minutes of silence, Roman stood up and so did Chantel. Not knowing what to do or say, the awkwardness came back and pulled at Chantel's heart. Roman felt something in him as well, knowing that at one point, everything came so naturally between them. No difficulties, picking up where they left off as if there was no interruption.

"I'm going to go." He says, dropping the stare that they had without warning. "I have to get back to Isabella."

"Okay, that's fine." Chantel tells him. "When are you leaving to go back out on the road?"

"Tomorrow afternoon." He replies. "I'll be back on Friday because I have an interview on Wednesday and I'm granting a wish on Thursday for the Make-A-Wish Foundation."

"I'll uh...I'll see you then." She says to him.

Roman blinked quickly and nodded. "We'll see each other then."

He turned around and walked to the door with Chantel walking behind him. Roman noticed that she was behind him and let her hold the door when he opened it and walked out. Turning around, he looked into those blue eyes of hers that he fell in love with. If only things had been different, who knows where the two of them might have been, now all these years later after college.

"Goodnight, Chantel." He says.

"Goodnight, Roman." She tells him softly as she leans against the door, as if for support to keep from falling or for the fact that she felt weak at the knees, staring into his eyes again as if what she felt in her heart all of those years ago before finding out what was going on was coming back. Chantel knew that she was going to think about that for the rest of the night, knowing how her mind worked.

Roman walked away and Chantel saw when he reached his car, seeing as his car was parked next to hers. He looked up and their gazes met for a few more moments before he got in his car. The engine in his black SUV Tahoe purred as it turned on before quieting again. Chantel stood there watching as his headlights came on and when he began to back up out of the parking and honking once before driving off.

Silence filled the air as she waited there, not seeing him return as if hoping that he would. Closing the door, Chantel pulled out her phone and called Sam. She answered the phone after a few rings and the smile in her voice could be heard.

"I don't know what do to." Chantel says softly.

"You still love him?" Samantha asked, knowing what and whom she was talking about.

"I didn't think that it would still be this hard after all of these years." She tells her. "It used to be so easy and now I come back after being gone for a year and it's all of this coming at me like a ton of bricks."

"Do you think that it's because you've learned how to put it aside all those years and then when you were in Italy, you forgot all about it?" Samantha asked. "You didn't have to deal with seeing him as much as you're going to have to now that you're back. Wanting to see Isabella, knowing that he's her father. Nothing to remind you about him and the things that you and he had gone through."

Chantel thought for a moment as someone knocked on her door. Seeing that it was a delivery guy when she looked through the peephole, she opened the door and quickly paid the guy, allowing him to keep the change. Closing the door again, Chantel went back to her conversation with her friend.

"A part of me wishes that I was back in Italy right now to avoid this." She tells Samantha. "Then again, it hasn't been the easiest thing getting back into the hang of things around here. At least while I was in college, I would come back for the holidays."

"Take some time to really think about what it is that you want." Samantha tells her. "Don't just make a decision and then end up regretting it later on. Make sure your choice is something that you want."

**A/N: Is Roman right about there being more to Chantel leaving for Italy than what she's saying? Do you think that there is any chance at anything for them two, even a friendship, or will things remain the same? Why do you think Roman chose her instead of one of the many other girls in their school? Should Chantel give him a chance so that they can start over? **


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you to Pinayprincesa, Shay, Seth rollins babe, Alexandria M, corbettluv, 'Guest' for reviewing :) **

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own WWE, NXT or any of the Superstars and Divas from either roster that may appear in this story. Names and locations are used for story purposes only. **

It had been two weeks since the last time that Chantel and Roman has last spoken about anything that had happened between the two of them. The only time they saw each other and spoke was because Isabella wanting to see Chantel and wanting to hangout with her, though the only time that they saw each other was when Roman was home from being on the road.

"Chantel?" Roman asked, seeing her at the gym. They had kept their distance from each other, though they had hesitated to do so.

She turned around to see him standing here with his headphones around his neck. His hair had been pulled back into a bun as sweat dripped down his forehead, to his face. He wore a sportswear type of wife beater that was grey, with sweat covering his arms, chest and back. Roman wore black shorts and black sneakers. To Chantel, it was a sight that she perfectly remembered, seeing him all the time in the gym when they were in college. Of course he was hot, what female in their right mind wouldn't think so? The long hair with the nice eyes and the amazing body that came with it.

"Hey." Chantel told him as she put down her weights and drank some of her water. Looking down, she remembered that she was wearing a red sports bra with grey leggings and black and white sneakes while her long hair was put up into a pony tail. "How are you?"

"I'm good and you?" He asked.

"I'm doing good." She replied and looked at her watch, seeing that it was about to be 15 minutes to seven. "I didn't expect to see you here at this time."

Roman gave her a small smile. "I had trouble getting out of bed this morning, with me being so tired. And then I had some cleaning to do and I had to buy a few things. What about you?"

"I had a long day at work today and so I just wanted to let it all out by getting a good workout in." Chantel replied. "I'm about to go home though to eat some dinner."

"Yeah, so am I." Roman said as he cleared his throat. "And to get to Isabella. She's with Sam and I know that she has two kids of her own and I don't want to burden her too much with constantly asking her to watch my daughter."

"I'm sure she's more than happy to watch Isabella." Chantel said as she made sure that the weigts she was using was put back in place and walked up to Roman after grabbing her water bottle. "She loves her niece and Isabella gets to hang out with her cousins."

"Yeah, that's a good plus to it." Roman says as their eyes met and hold the gaze that comes between the two.

Chantel's heart skipped a beat, seeing something in his eyes that she remembered from all those years ago. She found her fingers playing with the top of her water bottle and she quickly stopped herself, putting her hands down.

"I should get going now." She says in a low voice.

"So should I." He says but the both of them can't seem to get their feet to move from where they are standing.

Roman's phone started ringing, bringing them out of their little world and reminding them where they were. Seeing that it was his sister, he picked up and greeted her.

"I'm about to leave the gym in a few minutes. I'll be there soon." Said Roman when Samantha asked him where he was. "What? Is she okay?"

Chantel stood there, wondering if it was Isabella that he was talking about. The look of concern on his face only grew.

"Okay, I'll leave right now." He said before hanging up.

"What's wrong?" Chantel asked.

"Something Isabella ate that made her sick. Samantha said it's probably the stomach virus that's going around and she may have caught it." Roman told her. "I'm going to go get her now to take her home."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked.

Roman looked at her and thought about it. "She may want to see you."

"I'll go home and get something for her and bring it over." Chantel replies. "I should be there in about 15 minutes from my apartment."

"That sounds good. I'll see you then." He tells her and quickly goes back to the locker room to get his things and leave.

Chantel got her things and got in her car to go to her apartment. When she got home, she took a quick shower and looked around in her room when she came out. Finding a teddy bear near her closet, she took it and placed it on her bed before getting dressed.

She managed to get to Roman's house without even glancing at the directions that he had given her the previous week. Chantel managed to get to his place in exactly 15 minutes flat. Knocking on the door, Roman answered a few moments later and smiled at the woman standing in front of him.

"This is for Isabella." Chantel said showing him the teddy bear as she walked in.

"Chantel, you're here!" She exclaimed softly and in a tiny voice from the couch when she saw her come in to the living room.

"How are you feeling? I heard you weren't feeling well and I wanted to see how you were doing." Chantel asked when she sat down next to the little girl.

Isabella pouted and sat up a little. "I don't feel good."

Chantel ran her fingers through the girl's soft hair and let her lean up against her when she did. Roman stood there watching the two and smiled at how easily Isabella felt comfortable with Chantel around. It was as if Roman wasn't in the room any longer, and so he cleared his throat.

They looked up at the Samoan and the two managed to smile at him as he walked towards them. Isabella fixed herself so that Chantel and her father could sit as close as possible to her. She wrapped herself in the blanket that she was in, feeling a bit cold as Roman rested his arm around his daughter, letting her rest against him as he turned on the television and looked for something that the three of them could watch.

"I want the teddy bear." Isabella said in a tiny voice when she saw it next to Roman.

"Chantel bought it for you." He tells her as he gives it to her.

"Thank you." She told Chantel when she looked up at her.

"You're welcome." Chantel said with a smile and watched as Isabella kept the bear in her arms.

Roman and Chantel hesitantly tried to keep their distance from each other, though there was the close proximity between them. Roman had left the television on the Disney Channel for a show that Isabella liked that was being given. But all he and Chantel could do was sit there in silence, even when Isabelle would occasionally smile and laugh at what she was watching.

"Um...do you want something to eat Chantel?" Roman asked softly, to not interrupt his daughter.

"Sure, what do you have?" She asked.

"Daddy's gonna go to the kitchen with Chantel to see if she wants something." Roman told Isabella. "You think you can keep something down?"

Isabella shrugged as she looked up at her father. "I don't know. What if I throw it back up?"

"Do you think you can drink something without throwing it up?" Chantel asked her softly.

"I don't know." Isabella replied. "Can I have water or juice?"

"We'll bring you some, okay?" Chantel said before getting up with Roman and following him to the kitchen.

Chantel looked around when they walked in and was impressed by the kitchen. It was a lot of bigger than hers and a lot more fancy looking. Then again, Roman probably had more money than her at the moment, so of course he could afford it.

"I have some mac and cheese and I have a pack of rice if you want me to make you some." Roman told her, showing her what he had. "If you want, we could also order something."

"I don't want you to waste all that time and effort on me." Chantel told him quietly.

Roman smiled and shook his head. "It's not a problem. I can make you something to eat. I promise I won't poison it."

Chantel laughed softly and looked down before turning her eyes back to him. "I'll take the mac and cheese. Maybe we can share it."

"You sure? I still have a big appetitie." Roman told her.

"Maybe we should make two boxes in case." She told him, letting out another soft laugh.

They shared another smile as her laughter was music to Roman's ears. It had been a while since he had heard Chantel laugh and he didn't realize how much he had missed it until now. She took some juice and poured it in a cup and took it to Isabella letting her take a small sip before putting it on the table that was in front of them.

Chantel made her way back to the kitchen to see Roman beginning to make the mac and cheese and it wasn't any surprise that he literally took out two boxes. She shook her head with a smile on her face as she found herself watching the man in front of her cooking, though it was something simple.

She quickly turned her eyes away when he looked back at her and felt her cheeks grow warm as if she had been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to. Roman smiled at her and felt his eyes linger on her, not being able to take them off of her. Feeling his eyes on her, Chantel looked up and heard him clearing his throat as he finished turning around to turn his attention on what he was doing.

"Okay, it's done." Roman said as he turned the stove off and grabbing the two plates that were nearby that Chantel had washed a few minutes earlier. He put some of hte mac and cheese on her plate and handed it to her before putting some on his plate and putting a lid on the pot.

He went to check on Isabella who was quietly watching television and drinking some of her juice. Roman gave her a kiss on her forehead and helped her put her juice back on the table.

"You want to come to the kitchen to sit with me and Chantel or you want to stay here watching television?" Roman asked her quietly when he sat down next to her.

"I want to stay here." She said in a tiny voice. "They're giving Twilight now, daddy."

Roman looked up to see that Isabella had changed the channel and was watching the beginning of the movie, which had just gone to commercial. He knows that she had watched that movie dozens of times. Roman had even taken her to see it when it had first come out.

"You want to try having something to eat?" He asked her.

"Maybe some crackers." Isabella replied.

Roman went to the kitchen to see Chantel pouring them something to drink and going back to the island where they had their food. Grabbing some crackers, he quickly went back to the living room to cater to his daughter for a few more minutes before finally sitting next to Chantel when he went back to the kitchen after letting her know to go to them if she needed anything.

"Sorry about that." Roman said when he sat back in his chair.

"That's okay. You were just making sure your daughter's doing good." Chantel replied looking at him.

They shared a smile and began eating. Thoughts floated around in their minds about what they could talk about, now that they have some privacy and it's just the two of them. It wasn't making things any easier between them, but they couldn't help it.

"This is good, by the way." Chantel told him.

"Thank you." He said with a smile on his face. "Isabella has given me plenty of reason to practice."

They laughed softly before silence over took them once again. They wanted things to come normally for them like it used to instead of them possibly forcing a conversation to come out because things weren't right between them.

"I was thinking." Chantel started off slowly. "I am willing to give us another try."

"Really?" Asked Roman when he looked over at her.

She nodded. "I have been thinking about it for the past two weeks and I've been going back and forth on it because I didn't know what to do. There's a lot that has happened between us Roman, and you know that."

"I know." He replied as he took another bite of his food. "But this could be a chance for us to get back on the right track. To work on our issues and see what good can come from it, don't you think?"

"Yeah." She simply replied, hoping that she wouldn't regret giving this another go. "Just...don't screw this up, Roman."

"I won't." He said as their eyes met and lingered for a few moments before they both dropped it. "Have you ever forgiven me for what happened?"

Chantel thought for a moment and took a sip of her soda. "I have. It was hard for me to because a part of me thought that you didn't deserve to be forgiven. I was hurting and mad even though I didn't want to be mad. I was happy for being told the truth but I didn't feel like I, at the time, could trust you because I couldn't figure out truth from lie with you."

"When you asked me, two weeks ago, if it wasn't for the bet would I have bothered with you. Remember that?" Roman asked and watched her nod for confirmation. "Yes, I still would have."

"Would you?" She asked, trying to hide her surprise at the answer. "We've barely gotten along since I was in middle school and then the one time that we do get along, it's because of a stupid bet."

"If I could turn back time, I would have showed you that instead of doing what I did." Roman said. "I got to know you on a deeper level for the wrong reasons at first. But I can promise you that somewhere along the line, I did grow feelings for you. I did fall for you and I regret what I did. It was wrong of me, I've said that before. But I want to make it right this time, which is why I'm glad that you're giving us another chance."

"It just made me feel as if everything that we had shared and felt was for nothing because it made me feel like you didn't mean anything that you said to me. It made me feel that if it wasn't for that, you wouldn't have even cared for me as much as you made it seem like you did and you don't realize how deeply that hurt me, Roman." Chantel told him. "It was so hard to forgive you, but I did anyways because I felt like I had to even though my heart said 'no' over and over again every time I thought about forgiveness towards you. My heart didn't want to let go of what happened because it had a grip on what I felt for you and a grip on the memories that we made during that time and all it did was make me think that I would always hate you."

Roman looked over at her and saw in her eyes, that the pain that was caused ran deeper than what he realized and felt 100 times more guilty than he ever did about the situation. He wanted to make things right and wondered if he was almost too late for that.

"Do you hate me now?" He asked quietly.

"No." Chantel replied. "I realized that I couldn't no matter how much I felt like I had a reason to do so."

They realized that they had eaten everything that was on their plate and decided to get seconds. Chantel turned around to see him behind her, waiting for her to finish. He stepped closer to her and her heart began to pump fast as she looked into his blue/grey eyes and felt her knees begin to grow weak like it did when he was first at her apartment.

"Did you ever hate me?" Chantel asked him, remembering every bad thing that they have ever said to each other since they were little. "Was there ever a part of you that cared for me?"

"Yes." Roman simply replied. "Believe it or not, but I actually never stopped liking you. I was always thought to believe that it was wrong to go after my friends' little sister. When the bet came out, the first person I thought of was you. Though it was the wrong reasons for going after you, it gave me a chance to get to know you. I just wish I would have realized the mistake of the reason before doing it."

"We probably wouldn't have lost all this time with each other if you had." She says softly, barely above a whisper.

"I guess we have a lot of making up to do." He tells her, wanting her to know that he did indeed fall in love with her. The thing is, he doesn't think he ever stopped even when he was with the mother of his daughter.

Roman gently placed a hand on her arm and a lump formed in Chantel's throat. She wanted him to take her in his arms like he always did when they were in college. The way his large hands had felt against her skin, made her want more.

Chantel wondered why all of it happened and why it happened the way that it did. It caused her so much heartbreak and she was scared of having that again. She's always heard that if two people can remain friends after their romance is over, then they either never loved each other, or they still do. Chantel knew that it was because she probably still loved him. She had a feeling that she never stopped.

"Daddy?" Asked Isabella when she walked into the kitchen.

Roman and Chantel pulled away from each other and cleared their throats when they did. She took both of their plates and put seconds as Roman tended to Isabella.

"Yes?" He asked when he walked up to her and picked her up.

"My tummy still hurts and I don't like this." Isabella said as she pouted.

"It's probably just a little bug that's making you sick." Roman told her as he rubbed her stomach. "I'm sure you'll feel all better by tomorrow morning."

Isabella whimpered softly and rested her head on his chest. "Chantel, can you stay tonight?"

"I don't know." She replied, looking at her father who's eyes were already on hers. "I don't live here and so it's going to have to be okay with your dad."

"Daddy, can she stay?" Isabella asked when her eyes looked up at her father.

"You really want her to stay? I don't know if she'll be able to because I'm sure she's going to want to check on her place to make sure everything is okay." Roman replied, secretly wanting her to stay.

"She can check tomorrow." Isabella told him.

Roman chuckled softly and kissed her forehead before putting her down. "We'll see, babygirl."

Later that night, Isabella held on to Roman's hand when they walked Chantel to her car. She turned around to face the two of them and leaned against her car. Chantel had decided to not stay the night, with the events of today. Though she didn't want to leave, Chantel thought that it would be best if she decided to stay another night.

"I'll uh-come by tomorrow to see how she's doing." Chantel told Roman.

"Sure." He says as she takes his hand into hers and feels something against their hands. Holding on to each other's hands for longer than they thought they should, they cleared their throats again to allow Isabella to hug Chantel.

While they did, Roman looked to see a piece of folded up paper. When he unfolded it, there was something written on it followed by a phone number. The words on top of the phone number read: '_Here's my phone number -Chantel' _

"I'll call you." Roman said.

"Yeah, you should." Chantel said with a smile on her face. "I'll see you tomorrow. And Ms. Isabella, I hope you feel all better tomorrow."

"Thank you for my teddy bear." Isabella said with a smile on her face. "Can I keep it?"

"Of course you can." Chantel told her. "I bought it just for you."

Isabella smiled and gave her another hug. Chantel got in her car and put down the window when the car turned on. The headlights came on and after a few minutes, she backed out and stuck her hand out to wave at the two before driving away. Roman smiled at the phone number that he held in his hands and knew that this was progress. Maybe this was the beginning of something good that could happen.

**_The following week..._**

Roman had returned from the road and found himself going over to Chantel's apartment with Isabella on Thursday night for a small dinner. The two had been talking almost constantly since Chantel gave him her number. It was a surprise to Samantha who, of course, was the first one to be told because of all of the feelings and thoughts from both ends that were in it. But who was she to complain? There was a light returning to her brother's eyes that she hadn't seen in a long time and she believed that she had Chantel to thank for that.

"I got an 'A' on my spelling test today." Isabella said at the dinner table as she ate her mashed potatoes. "And daddy said I could get a book on Saturday when we go to the library."

"That's good. I'm proud of you." Chantel told her with a smile. "You keep up the good work."

"Thank you." Isabella replied with a big smile. "I'll show you my stickers when you come over so you can see them."

Chantel smiled. "Okay, deal."

Isabella had gotten better beginning the night after she had gotten sick. It turned out to be just a stomach virus that was going around and she was the unlucky one to catch it. Chantel had gone back to Roman's house the next day to see if she was okay and they ended up spending the day together. Even on the day that Roman had to leave for the road again, they spent the morning together before he left. That begun Chantel and Roman's long conversations on the phone for the rest of the week.

They talked for a while longer until they finished their dinner. Isabella went to the living room and watched some television while Chantel and Roman washed the dishes. It was no longer becoming awkward between the two, even when there was silence in the room. There was still a lot of work that had to be done but they were getting along better than what they had been in years.

"I know this is probably not the best conversation topic to choose, at least not at the moment because we're still trying to work on things, but...was there anyone else for you after the two of us?" Roman asked.

"There was one." Chantel replied as she dried the dishes that she had and put them away. "It lasted almost a year and then we broke up."

Roman gave her the dishes that he had and helped her put them away. "What happened?"

"It wasn't working out. It turns out that he wanted more than what I was able to give him. At least at that time. He wanted kids and I wanted to finish school and become financially secure first before I settled down to have any children. Don't get me wrong, I would love kids of my own someday, but I felt like at the time, it wasn't the right moment for it when it came to me. I wanted to make sure that I was in a good place in my life where I was secure and happy with what I had."

"And you weren't?" Roman asked when she turned to look at him.

Chantel thought for a moment and shook her head. "I wasn't. Like I said, I wanted to finish school first and get a job and be financially secure first. Of course I was thinking about my future and a future with kids and whatnot. But mentally and emotionally, I wasn't at the right place. It wasn't the right time for it and I didn't want my kids to grow up in a broken home. I still don't want that. I want my children to grow up in a home where both parents truly love each other and are happy together. I don't want to rush into it and then it doesn't work out between me and that person. The guy...he was rushing it for some reason. You know me, I don't like being forced to do something. What about you? I mean, obviously there was Janelle, but what about after her?"

"There wasn't really anybody ever since." Roman said after letting out a sigh. "There were little things here and there, but it was never anything serious. It wasn't the whole 'I want to bring you home so that you can meet my child' type of thing. I don't want to be bringing females in and out of Isabella's life."

"I've been in her life since she was baby." Chantel says with a small smile. "Except for the past year, but you know what I mean."

Roman chuckled and nodded. "You are the only female, outside of the family that has been constant in her life. Isabella loves you and she always wants you around."

"You mean to tell me that a six year old doesn't get tired of me?" She asked with a smile that was contagious, making Roman return the smile.

"No, she doesn't." He said with another small chuckle. "If I could, I'd have you over every time that I was home so that the two of you could be together. She absolutely loves you."

Chantel looked at him. "So what do you get out of me being around all the time?"

"I get to see you." Roman replied. "Maybe it kinda sucks to wait until we're both at the gym at the same time to see each other. Maybe I want to see you more often instead of waiting until I come back from the road."

"We'll see." She told him with another soft smile as she looked down before looking back up at him. It definitely felt as if they were picking up where they left off all those years ago and she liked it. Chantel missed that smile of his that she used to call hers.

"Chantel, come watch television with me." Said Isabella as she walked into the kitchen. "Daddy, you come too."

"We're going." Chantel said as she followed Isabella, looking back to take a look at Roman who had a smile on his face as his eyes lingered on her before his feet finally moved to go to the living room.

**A/N: Do you think Chantel made the right decision on giving them another chance? What do you think so far about her relationship with Isabella? Do you think that Chantel still has a guard up with Roman in fear of getting hurt again, leading to why she didn't stay the night, even when Isabella asked if she could? Do you think she will in the future? **


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you to Alexandria M, corbettluv, Pinayprincesa, 'Guest', and justkimmy for reviewing :) **

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own WWE, NXT or any of the Superstars and Divas from either roster that may appear in this story. Names and locations are used for story purposes only. **

Roman sat in his hotel room on a Friday night as he took out his new Ipad to face time with his daughter. He texted his sister, Samantha, to let her know that he was ready and sent the request as he sat in his bed.

"Hi daddy!" Exlcaimed Isabella in a happy voice when she saw her father.

"Hey babygirl!" Roman exclaimed, happy to see his little girl. It lifted his spirits being able to see her though it was through face time instead of him being there with her. "How are you? You're being a good girl for Auntie?"

"Yes and I'm good. I got a star in school today for being good and I got to be the line leader today." She replied.

"That's great baby." He told her, wishing that he was there. "Did you do your homework?"

"Yes." She said. "Auntie checked it for me and I read to her like I read to you and she said I did good."

Roman smiled. "I'm proud of you, Bella. Keep up the good work."

"Thank you, daddy." Isabella grinned. "When are you coming home?"

"I should be home next week." Roman said, feeling his heart break when he saw her frown sadly. This was one of those times where he would be gone for two weeks at least and that was two weeks of not being with her. "The week will go by fast, I promise. It's hard for me too being away from home. Can I talk to Auntie for a few minutes?"

"Okay." Isabella said as she left her seat to allow Samantha to sit in front of the computer.

"Hi Sam." Roman said with a smile. "How's everything?"

"It's good." She said with a smile. "Bella's been an Angel as always, I can't complain. Though she's been asking to see Chantel since you left."

"Chantel told me." Roman said, smiling at the sound of her name. "I was thinking, maybe the two of them can hang out before Isabella goes back to mom and dad. I'll ask Chantel first, obviously, to see if she'll be able to. But yeah."

Samantha thought about it and nodded. "That sounds good. I know they love hanging out with each other. I'm going to let you call her. It gives you a reason to talk to her."

"I talk to her because I want to." Roman said with a smile growing on his face. "Sometimes it has nothing to do with Isabella because we talk about other things."

"Like what?" Samantha asked with a smile on her face like she used to do when she wanted to get information from him that she wanted.

Roman chuckled and shook his head. "Nothing. I'll call her tonight after I get off and I'll ask her."

_**The next day...**_

"Auntie, is that Chantel?" Asked Isabella as they looked at the door when somebody knocked.

"I don't know. We have to go see." Samantha said as she stood up to go to the door.

Roman had talked to Chantel the previous night and she had agreed to spend some time with Isabella, without any hesitation. She didn't mind and looked forward to spending time with her whenever she could. The two were really close before Chantel left to Italy and it obviously resumed when she came back.

"Hey girl." Samantha said as her and Chantel shared a hug. "Come in."

"Chantel!" Isabella said as she went running into the woman's arms.

She happily caught her and picked her up as they greeted each other. Chantel put her down so that Isabella could get her things while she stayed behind with Samantha.

"How do you do it?" Samantha asked.

"Do what?" Chantel asked her, a bit confused as to what she was talking about.

"Getting Isabella to actually look forward to things." Samantha replied. "Getting her excited for something and to open her eyes again to things. The year that you were gone, Isabella missed like you crazy all the time. She naturally just goes to you."

Chantel looked at her and shrugged shyly. "I don't know. Her and I just have a connection that we can't deny. We get along so well and I try my best to show her that she can trust me and that she can be comfortable around me."

"I'm ready." Isabella said in her tiny voice as she walked up the two women with a light sweater and her hair in a ponytail.

"What time do want me to bring her back?" Asked Chantel as she grabbed her hand.

"Is it okay if she spends the rest of the weekend with you?" Asked Samantha.

Roman had told Chantel the night before that it would be fine for Isabella to stay over at her apartment as long as it was okay with her. She wasn't sure if Samantha would be okay with it, but was okay with Isabella staying.

"Are you sure?" Chantel asked. "Roman mentioned it to me last night, but I wasn't sure if it was okay that she did."

"Of course she can. You want to stay with her, Bella?" Samantha asked her.

"What about me staying with you until Monday?" Asked Isabella.

"You have a whole bunch of other days to come stay with me." Smantha told her with a smile. "For now, you can stay with Chantel if you'd like. That'd be fine."

Isabella squealed in excitement and went back to get her things. Samantha and Chantel went wtih her to help her and to make sure she was to get everything that she needed without leaving anything behind. After about 20 minutes, they walked out of the room that she was staying in and talked for a few more minutes before finally leaving.

Chantel and Isabella made their way to the diner that they had first went to a few weeks ago to get some lunch. Isabella was quiet and when Chantel followed her gaze, she saw that she was looking at two kids who were there with a lady that appeared to be their mother. Looking back at Isabella, she frowned softly and went back to her menu before the waitress came back to take their orders.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Asked Chantel when the waitress left.

"Yes." Isabella replied, coloring her paper that she was given with some crayons.

Chantel looked at her. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Isabella replied, not looking up from her coloring.

Roman sometimes did the same thing when there was something bothering him, so it wasn't a surprise to Chantel that Isabelle was doing that. She left it alone, not wanting to force the little girl into something that she may not have wanted to do. Chantel was able to keep her mind elsewhere for a while as they started talking about other things and playing some games.

Later that night, Isabella had just finished taking a shower and was now in her pajamas and sitting next to Chantel in the living room as they watched television. While they were giving commercial, Isabella snuggled up to Chantel's body and tugged on her sleeve.

"Chantel, why don't I have a mommy anymore?" Asked Isabella.

Chantel looked down at her and furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean? Of course you have a mom."

"But she's not here anymore. Daddy, nana and grandpa told me that she went to be in Heaven when I was little." Isabella said. "Why didn't I get a new mommy?"

She looked at the little girl as her heart broke, not knowing what to say to a six year old about this. Putting the volume on mute, she turned her full attention to Isabella.

"Sometimes, and you may learn this as you get older, that sometimes things happen that we can't control." Chantel began to tell her. "Sometimes things may happen that we can't stop, whether we want them to happen or not. I can't speak for your mom, but she's still your mother whether she's here or not."

"Why did she have to go?" Asked Isabella as her eyes looked up at her.

Chantel sighed as she thought for a moment on what to say. "I guess that God needed another Angel and he believed that your mother would make an amazing Angel. I know it doesn't sound fair to everyone who loved and cared for her, and it may not make a lot of sense right now, but maybe God thought that it was best and that it was her time."

"How come daddy never found anyone else?" Isabella asked. "Does he have you?"

"We're not together, but it's very complicated." Chantel told her. "We've known each other since we were little kids."

"I think he likes you a lot." Isabella says.

"What makes you say that?" She asks, feeling her heart skip a beat when she said that.

"Because his eyes look happy when you're around." Says Isabella.

Chantel looks at her. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. When you're around, I see him smiling at you a lot when you're not looking and he looks at you a lot too when you're not looking. And he never wants you to leave." Isabella says.

"So why doesn't he ever tell me that he doesn't want me to leave?" Chantel asks her.

"I don't know." Isabella responds as she shrugs and shakes her head.

Chantel laughs softly at the cute little face that she puts on and gives her a hug. "As for your mom, I know it's hard sometimes not having her around. But when she was still alive, she loved you very much. Your mother was a very good person and she loved being a mom, especially to her little girl."

Isabella gives her a small smile and looks down. "Do you think she misses me?"

"She absolutely misses you." Chantel says to her in a reassuring voice. "And she still loves you very much, even though she's not here. And even though she's not, you still have your dad who loves you like there's no tomorrow. You're his world and you're his little princess."

"I love daddy, too." Isabella says with a big smile. "He's the bestest daddy in the world!"

They shared a few giggles as Chantel began to tickle her to make her laugh more. After another half an hour, they found themselves talking to Roman who was eager to talk to the both of them. Not only was he missing his daughter, but he found himself missing Chantel more and more as the days went by. Seeing her face when they were on face time made his night, as well as the big smile on his daughter's face when she saw him. Isabella was truly his life and she had him wrapped around her finger.

When the following week came, Roman found himself coming home and looked at his watch as he stopped at a light. Noticing that it was almost time for Isabella to come out of school, he made a beeline home and put his things down before quickly getting himself together to go pick her up.

Roman had told his parents that he was going to go surprise her and so he picked her things up from their house, seeing as he was home a day earlier than expected. Parking the car outside of the school, he stepped out of the car and leaned against it, waiting for the children to come out. It wasn't long until the first class came out and so he patiently looked through the students to see where he could see her.

Looking through the crowd of children that was now beginning to fill the yard, he looked and smiled when he finally saw his little girl. Her long brown hair was in two braids as she held on to the straps of the book bag that was on her back and in her uniform. Walking towards the class that she was with, he managed to get to her teacher without her noticing and cleared his throat.

"I'm here for Isabella." Roman told her teacher, Ms. Smith.

She smiled up at the Samoan when she looked to see who it was that was talking to her. "She was on her best behavior today, Mr. Reigns. Isabella always is."

"Daddy!" Exclaimed a little girl.

Roman looked over to see Isabella with a big smile on her face as she ran over to him. "There's my babygirl!"

He picked her up and spun her around before giving her a big hug. Isabella squealed in happiness and giggled before Roman put her down and grabbed her hand. After a few moments, they began to leave and got in the car.

"Daddy, I missed you." Isabella says from the backseat as her father drives and stops at a light.

"I missed you too, baby girl." Roman said with a smile on his face when he looked in the rearview mirror to see her looking and smiling. "You have homework today?"

"Yes, it's to read a book that we have and write a book report on it." She says.

"Okay, so when we get home, you do that and daddy will make you a little snack, okay?" Roman says as he starts driving again.

They spent the car ride home talking about their time over the last two weeks and for Roman, it felt good to be back home. It was hard enough for him to be away for almost a week, so when his job kept him away for longer than that, it was really tough.

"What do you want for your snack, Bella?" Asked Roman as they went into the kitchen and he helped her get on one of the chairs around the island.

"Can I get a sandwich?" She asked. "With ham and cheese and mayonaise."

Roman looked through the fridge to take out the ham, cheese and the mayonaise before getting two slices of bread while Isabella took out her book that she had to read and some paper and a pencil. When Roman finished making the sandwich, he cut it how she liked it and gave it to her on a small plate with some juice.

"Thank you." Said Isabella as she put her book down a few moments later and took a bite of her sandwich. Roman put the things away and cleaned up a bit before washing his hands and sitting next to his daughter. Taking out his phone, he found himself looking for Chantel's number and texting her. "What are you doing, daddy?"

"Trying to see if I can talk to Chantel." Roman replied.

"Can she come over?" Asked Isabella.

"If she's able to. Chantel has to work, too." He said to her.

Isabella drank some of her juice befoer turning her attention back to him. "When can she stay over?"

Roman thought for a moment as he asked her to finish eating so that she can finish her homework. "I don't know. You really like her, don't you?"

"Yeah." Isabella said as she nodded and ate the last piece of her sandwich. "Mommy's not around anymore."

"You know your mom is in heaven looking down on all of us." He told her softly, frowning, knowing that Isabella didn't like that she felt left out from her friends when she sees them with their mother.

Isabella didn't say anything else as she drank some of her juice and went back to her book. Roman sighed and washed her plate before taking a seat next to her again. Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on the door and when Roman went to answer it, he saw that it was Chantel standing on the other side. He smiled and they shared a hug that lasted longer than they had expected to and they quickly pulled away from each other.

Her heels clicked on the tile floor that appeared in front of the door before the sounds were muffled by the carpet. Her black, button down blouse with grey dress pants matched as well as her black purse with a gold zipper and designs on it. Her long hair was out and cascaded down her back.

"How was your trip back?" She asked him softly. "Did you have a good time on the road?"

"Yeah, but I missed my baby so I'm happy to be home." Roman replied. "I went out with Dean and a few other of the guys that I'm friends with and don't worry, I stayed out of trouble."

Chantel smiled. "Okay. I know you like to have a beer or two."

"But I keep myself out of trouble." Roman said with a smile of his own.

She walked to the kitchen with Roman following behind her, only to see the smile on his daughter's face when she saw Chantel. They shared a hug and talked for a few moments before Chantel made sure that she finished her homework.

"Daddy and I are going to go to the living room to talk, okay?" Chantel asked. "We'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay." Isabella replied as she went back to writing her book report.

Roman and Chantel sat on the couch and she sighed happily when she did, putting her bag down beside her. After a few minutes of talking about random things, Chantel sat up a bit.

"Isabella was asking about her mom." She told him.

"What'd she say?" Roman asked.

"She was asking why she didn't have a mom anymore and why did she have to go." Chantel replied. "I just told her that sometimes things happen that we can't control but that she's watching over her. That her mother loved her."

Roman sighed and looked down. "She mentioned her mother to me today too. Isabella doesn't always talk about her mother. The longest that she has gone without mentioning her was about two years but when she _does _mention or ask about Janelle, it breaks my heart. I never know what to tell her and I don't know what to do to make her feel better. I see the look in her eyes that she gets when she sees her friends with their mother and she doesn't have that. Sometimes I think it's all my fault."

"It's not your fault, Roman." She told him. "I'm sure that you did the best that you could with Janelle to help her out. There's just going to be times, especially with someone who was in her situation, where if they don't want that help, they're not going to take it. And even if they do, it can still be hard for them and a lot of them don't get it right the first time around so sometimes they have to keep trying until they get it right and get over that hump that they need to get over so that they can get better. It's not your fault. I'm sure that Janelle didn't ask for that kind of lifestyle or for her life to end the way that it did."

"Did you know that Janelle had that little drug habit?" Asked Chantel.

"No. Not at first, anyways." Roman replied. "I didn't find out until a while after we graduated from college. The coming home late at night, staying out all hours of the night. The needle marks in her arms. The weight loss. I tried to help her, but she wouldn't take the help and when she did, Janelle would always go back to her old ways."

"I didn't know her much, but she seemed like a nice person." Chantel said softly.

Roman nodded. "She was. Janelle really was a great person and she was great at making friends, but I guess she got mixed up with the wrong crowd and she wasn't able to get herself out of it. When we found out that she was pregnant, I was nervous and scared as hell. Excited because I was going to be a dad, but scared because I didn't know how her drug use was going to affect Isabella. Luckily Janelle was smart enough to kick her little habit long enough for Bella to start feeding on formula. After that, she went right back to the drugs."

"When she died, there were a few rumors as to how she died." She said.

"I know." He said. "But those who know her, know the truth. Janelle was at one of her little drug parties and on her way home, I guess the effects of the drugs were starting to kick in and then she fell asleep and she crashed into the median with the car flipping over. The injuries were too severe for her to survive and so she drew her last breath a few days later leaving me behind as a single father of a one year old baby girl. Isabella doesn't know or remember anything about her mother other than what she was told and all she has are pictures of some videos of Janelle that helped in showing her how she sounded and how social she was. I know how much it bothers Isabella sometimes to see that she doesn't really have a mom while her friends do. It's not like when they walk out, there's always that possibility that they'll come back. But when they're no longer alive...it's hard. I can still remember seeing the pictures of the car and I felt my stomach drop. I thought about how someone would ever be able to survive that kind of accident where the car ends up completely totaled. The airbags were working, but Janelle had some injuries due to the airbags. Toxicology reports showed that she had cocaine, heroine and alcohol in her system at the time of the accident. They wanted to see what caused the accident and so when those results came in, because there was nothing wrong with the car, they just summed it up to her toxicology report."

"What did her family say?" Asked Chantel.

Roman shrugged. "They thought that I just let her go to where ever it is that she went to instead of stopping her. I didn't know that she was going to be there, let along that she was going to do any drugs. Had I known, I would have tried to stop her. I would have tried to get her to come over so that she could see Isabella instead even though Janelle had seen her earlier in the day. Isabella always kept her clean until she knew that she would have to go a few days without seeing her."

It was hard for the both of them and it never got easy. It never got easier to explain to Isabella why her mother was no longer around. As she got older and continues to do so, Roman will obviously let her know more, a little at a time. She deserves to know the truth and Roman realizes that. Janelle may have had her life end earlier than it should have, but she was still Isabella's mother and she was a great one when she was around and not on drugs.

"Do you think that if it wasn't for her using drugs, the two of you wouldn't have broken up after Bella was born?" Chantel asked.

"I don't know." Roman replied. "I really did care for her, but we just couldn't get along, especially when she got pregnant. We tried to work things out, but we just couldn't get it right no matter what we did. Would things be different now, if she were still alive? I don't know that either. I always cared about her and I knew that we would always have a bond because of Isabella, even if we weren't together. But my heart had belonged to somebody else the entire time and I realized that it would not have been fair to Janelle."

Chantel looked at the large man sitting in front of her. "Who did your heart belong to?"

"You." Roman said softly, barely above a whisper. Chantel was able to catch it, and without admitting it, she wanted to hear him say that. But it was seven years since it all happened.

"Does your heart still belong there?" She asked him.

Roman looked into her blue eyes and didn't let go of the gaze that they held. "Yes...because I don't think I have ever let you go."

Chantel felt her heart skip a beat as the feelings that came back into her, reminded her of how she had never really let him go either. Though the two had gone their separate ways and tried to move on after everything that had happened, they couldn't get themselves to do so. Their heart still wanted the other and that connection that had grown between the two had never went away, even after the bad things that nearly severed everything between them. For a while, it did until Isabella was born. After Janelle passed away, Isabella somehow bought the two of them back together and they've been back in each other's lives ever since. The year that Chantel found herself in Italy, she still thought about him and it made her yearn for him as if there was nobody else in the world that could make her heart as happy as Roman did.

"Daddy, I finished." Isabella said as she walked into the living room with her things and her book bag.

Roman and Chantel looked away from each other and allowed the little girl to sit between them as Roman read her book report. Isabella talked to Chantel and they were both enjoying their conversation, even when Roman finished reading and just sat their watching and listening to them smile and talk.

"Baby, go put your things away." Roman said to his daughter.

"Okay." She said as she grabbed her paper and put it in her folder before taking her book bag and going upstairs.

After making sure that she wasn't close enough to hear either one of them talking, Roman and Chantel both turned their attention back to each other.

"Why didn't you come after me?" Chantel asked in a whisper.

"I did." Roman replied, just as softly. "You barely gave me the time of day to see that I was trying. That I was at least, willing to try. You were so angry at me that I wasn't able to get around the walls that you put up. Eventually I just stopped because I thought I would never be able to get past them. That you would never give me the chance to try. To even talk to you."

Chantel looked down and played with her fingers as a lump formed in her throat. "I was hurting and afraid that anything with you would only hurt me so much more. It literally felt like my heart was breaking and being torn out of my chest, Roman. I was in pain and I wanted it to go away because it was unbearable."

She looked up, only to find that tears had already formed in her eyes. Roman noticed and sat closer to her, thankful that she didn't pull away from him as took her hands in his.

"Maybe this time, things could turn out differently for us." Roman said as tears streamed down her face. He could see it in her eyes that she remembered perfectly. "Please don't give up on me this time. On us."

Chantel looked at him and knew that she couldn't. She was unable to find it within herself to give up after the improvements that they have made since the day that she had decided to give them another chance. Chantel was happy again and so was Roman because it was another chance for him to try to get her back into his life. Getting back the woman that he was still in love with after all of these years.

"Please don't hurt me again. I don't know if I can take that pain again." Chantel said in a heartbreaking voice. It was rare to ever see her show any emotion other than happiness. But to see her showing more than happiness was something that those who knew her were grateful for because they knew it didn't always come often.

"I won't." Roman tells her as he cups her chin to get her to look at him. Her blue eyes glossy from her tears as one more streams down her cheek.

Isabella comes back downstairs in a different shirt and pants, like she usually did to no mess up her uniform. Chantel wiped her eyes and quickly dried her face in an effort to hide any evidence of the bit of crying that she had just done. She didn't want Isabella to worry about something, especially when it had everything to do with Roman and Chantel since before he and Janelle ever happened. If they were to keep improving, she knew that she had to tell him all of the reasons for why she had left to Italy. Her parents weren't the only reasons for why she left. Her heart was a big reason for it as well.

**A/N: What do you think about what happened to Isabella's mother? Do you think that has anything to do with why she naturally goes to Chantel? Does she see Chantel as a mother figure? Do you think Roman still loved Chantel while he was with Janelle? Was Janelle a rebound for him to try to get over Chantel, or someone that he truly cared about and wanted to be with? What other reasons, besides her parents, could Chantel have for going to Italy and staying there for over a year? **


End file.
